Longest running TV series

[Philosofy]

And by series, I mean plural. What TV show, along with its spin offs, had the most years on TV?

I would think it would be between Law & Order, which spun off SVU, Criminal Intent, and trial by Jury. (17+9+7+1=34)

Or it could be Happy Days, which spun off Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, and Joanie loves Chachi. (11+5+8+2=26)

But what about All in the Family, which gave us the Jeffersons, Maude, Archie Bunker's Place ( 9+10+7+5=32 years)

What are some other long time TV shows and spin offs?

[jschuur]

Doctor Who (including each classic, short British serials (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_serials)), new longer seasons, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures and not counting the upcoming seasons:
26+3+1+1=31

A stretch, but technically related: Friends, Mad About You (Ursula Buffay), Seinfeld (Paul lived in Seinfeld's apartment):
10+9+7=26

FWIW, Wikipedia has a list of longest running US TV series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_running_U.S._television_series).

[balboa dave]

Meet the Press. It was first broadcast in 1947.

[terpfan1980]

And by series, I mean plural. What TV show, along with its spin offs, had the most years on TV?

But what about All in the Family, which gave us the Jeffersons, Maude, Archie Bunker's Place ( 9+10+7+5=32 years)

Regarding All in the Family - wasn't there a spin-off of the Jeffersons for Florence the maid also?

[aadam101]

And by series, I mean plural. What TV show, along with its spin offs, had the most years on TV?

I would think it would be between Law & Order, which spun off SVU, Criminal Intent, and trial by Jury. (17+9+7+1=34)

Or it could be Happy Days, which spun off Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, and Joanie loves Chachi. (11+5+8+2=26)

But what about All in the Family, which gave us the Jeffersons, Maude, Archie Bunker's Place ( 9+10+7+5=32 years)

What are some other long time TV shows and spin offs?

Technically Good Times came from this as well since it was a Maude Spin off.

[aadam101]

Regarding All in the Family - wasn't there a spin-off of the Jeffersons for Florence the maid also?

Yes! I don't even think it make it a whole season.

[terpfan1980]

Regarding All in the Family - wasn't there a spin-off of the Jeffersons for Florence the maid also?
Just found the info on same: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checking_In 4 Episodes. (Had good ol' Ferret Face in it too.)

[Philosofy]

Technically Good Times came from this as well since it was a Maude Spin off.

When I wrote the original post, I had put Good Times in there, but didn't see it was a Maude spin off, so I deleted it. Thanks for the catch.

[getbak]

There was also a short-lived spin-off of All in the Family with Gloria as a single mother after she broke up with Meat Head.

It was called Gloria, and ran for 21 episodes: http://www.tv.com/gloria/show/657/episode_listings.html?tag=subtabs;list

[Idearat]

When you start linking spinoffs and such you wander into the St Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street multiverse theory.

Short version: There was a St. Elsewhere / Homicide crossover episode. Of course Homicide links up with L&O. If you follow all the other links, some similar to the Seinfeld / Mad About You connection, you get get 282 separate TV series and all their episodes.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html

[Peter000]

If you're talking all of TV and not just prime-time, there's probably a Daytime Soap or two that could vie for that title. Days of our Lives? General Hospital?

[Jeeters]

If you're talking all of TV and not just prime-time, there's probably a Daytime Soap or two that could vie for that title. Days of our Lives? General Hospital?Guiding Light. Always regarded as the longest running drama ever - started out on radio before TV even existed.

[Rob Helmerichs]

When you start linking spinoffs and such you wander into the St Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street multiverse theory.

Short version: There was a St. Elsewhere / Homicide crossover episode. Of course Homicide links up with L&O. If you follow all the other links, some similar to the Seinfeld / Mad About You connection, you get get 282 separate TV series and all their episodes.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html
Well, a lot of that stuff is just plain silly. Having shows make the same pop-culture references doesn't make them occur in the same world.

You might as well say that every show on television that has referenced the Iraq War literally takes place in our world!

[caslu]

Star Trek, with 6 series (original, animated, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise) and 11 movies (if perhaps you count 1 year for each movie, and include the new one that's coming next year)...

Series - (3+2+7+7+7+4)+(11 movies) = 41

...why are these calculations considered spoilers???

[Idearat]

Well, a lot of that stuff is just plain silly. Having shows make the same pop-culture references doesn't make them occur in the same world.

You might as well say that every show on television that has referenced the Iraq War literally takes place in our world!

They seem to be a little more discriminating than that. The connections have to be based on common fictional aspects. Watching Cheers on TV on a show wouldn't count, but visiting the Cheers bar and ordering a beer from Sam would.

Niles and Daphne on Frasier read the Caroline in the City comic strip.
There's a Friends / Caroline in the City crossover episode
Phoebe's sister Ursula is the same Ursula on Mad About You
A Mad About You episode features Alan Brady, the fictional comedian from The Dick Van Dyke Show. This ends up connecting it to the whole Danny Thomas/Lucy/Mayberry section.

More tenuous connections include a common fictional cigarette or soft drink brand. Oceanic Airlines is another loose tie that connects several series.
The Yoyodyne company is what bridges the present to the future of Star Trek. Many connections seem to be the creators of one show getting a chuckle out of reusing a detail from another show rather than making up a new one, like Crossing Jordan's couple mentions of the L.A. area Fisher & Son's funeral home, or a Firefly ship floating in space in Battlestar Galactica.

The 22 page PDF on their site has the details. I can see it starting by a couple guys watching TV and noticing a few connections they hadn't realized where there. They start writing them down and it sort of gets a life of it's own.

[doom1701]

When you start linking spinoffs and such you wander into the St Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street multiverse theory.

Short version: There was a St. Elsewhere / Homicide crossover episode. Of course Homicide links up with L&O. If you follow all the other links, some similar to the Seinfeld / Mad About You connection, you get get 282 separate TV series and all their episodes.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html


Don't forget that X-Files and The Lone Gunmen (short lived as it was) also fit into the Homicide/L&O universe.

[Unbeliever]

Doctor Who (including each classic, short British

A stretch, but technically related: Friends, Mad About You (Ursula Buffay), Seinfeld (Paul lived in Seinfeld's apartment):


Wrong side of the hall. Paul moved in with Jaime and sublet his apartment to Kramer. Several years later, Paul finally was convinced to give up the sublet to Kramer and he went to pick up a shoebox filled with I forgot what.

Niles and Daphne on Frasier read the Caroline in the City comic strip.

" 'But I don't have enough shoes!' Why is that funny?"

--Carlos V.

[Rob Helmerichs]

More tenuous connections include a common fictional cigarette or soft drink brand. Oceanic Airlines is another loose tie that connects several series.
The Yoyodyne company is what bridges the present to the future of Star Trek. Many connections seem to be the creators of one show getting a chuckle out of reusing a detail from another show rather than making up a new one, like Crossing Jordan's couple mentions of the L.A. area Fisher & Son's funeral home, or a Firefly ship floating in space in Battlestar Galactica.
That's the kind of thing I meant by pop-culture references.

(Yoyodyne, by the way, is a pop-culture reference that predates Star Trek. It was originally created in Pynchon's V, and was also a major plot point in Buckeroo Banzai.)

[Turtleboy]

When you start linking spinoffs and such you wander into the St Elsewhere, Homicide: Life on the Street multiverse theory.

Short version: There was a St. Elsewhere / Homicide crossover episode. Of course Homicide links up with L&O. If you follow all the other links, some similar to the Seinfeld / Mad About You connection, you get get 282 separate TV series and all their episodes.

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~kwgow/crossovers.html

And it's all in the mind of Tommy Westphall?

[Gitchee Gumee]

The doctors from St Elsewhere did go to cheers and order a beer from Carla in a St Elsewhere episode. So now we have linked St Elsewhere, Homicide, L&0 with the Cheers and Frasier universe.

[IndyJones1023]

Star Trek, with 6 series (original, animated, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise) and 11 movies (if perhaps you count 1 year for each movie, and include the new one that's coming next year)...

Series - (3+2+7+7+7+4)+(11 movies) = 41

...why are these calculations considered spoilers???
I wouldn't count a 2-hour movie to be the equivalent of a 20+ episode season.

[USAFSSO]

The doctors from St Elsewhere did go to cheers and order a beer from Carla in a St Elsewhere episode. So now we have linked St Elsewhere, Homicide, L&0 with the Cheers and Frasier universe.

add Wings.